⠀ Free Range ONLY, no feed???

[EastmanEggs]

First, I have raised chickens and currently keep 50 laying hens. I am by no means intending to neglect the basic needs of any animal, nor am I some heartless moron. I'm educated on caring for chickens- but I've only ever learned of one way. Secure Coop & run. I want to know if free ranging without providing feed (treats allowed ) is possible.


I want to know if I can purchase chicks this spring, raise them with medicated feed until they're ready to be outdoors, and then move them to a large pen and only provide adequate shelter and water; No Feed.

After 4 months of them no-so-free ranging, collect the birds for meat.

Is it possible and realistic- or is it inhumane and creating malnourishment?


Surely, someone has first hand experience or has witnessed such an operation.

 

[Ridgerunner]

What you are talking about is a model that has been used for thousands of years on small farms. During good weather months the chickens basically feed themselves. During other times, supplemental feed is offered. June is exactly right, the quality of the forage determines how well this will work. Small farms generally had not only a lot of variety in plant growth but different places they could search for creepy crawlies. They often had farm animals too. Chickens could scratch through cow and horse manure and find a lot of nutrients in that, some of it partially digested bits and some maggots or other insects growing in it. I grew up on a farm like that.

Your area looks like it is set up pretty well for that. I’d still suggest you follow June’s example and provide feed for them, but with all that forage they are likely to not eat a lot of it. It is a very efficient way to feed them in the good weather months.

One huge risk for you is predators. People free range chickens in that type of set-up all the time without serious predator issues, others get wiped out. The only way to find out which group you are in is to try it. I do strongly suggest locking them up at night in a predator proof coop, that’s when your risk is highest. A good dog allowed to be outside all the time and trained to not hurt your chickens can be a great asset.

Whether or not you use medicated feed is up to you. I don’t. I always suggest you check the label to confirm what medicine is in medicated feed. It’s almost always Amprolium but there are a few on the market that contain something else. Amprolium is not an antibiotic. Amprolium is a thyamine blocker that limits the reproduction of the bug that causes Coccidiosis. Chickens will develop an immunity to a specific strain of bugs that cause Coccidiosis after two to three weeks of exposure as long as the number of bugs don’t get out of hand. Amprolium does not introduce that bug, but by limiting how much it reproduces helps keep the numbers in hand until they develop immunity. That bug lives in the ground and thrives in wet conditions. I feed dirt from my run to the chicks in the brooder to introduce that bug every few days and keep the brooder very dry so the numbers don’t get out of hand without the Medicated feed. There is nothing wrong with Amprolium medicated feed but unless the bug has been introduced it doesn’t do any good either.

 

[DrPatrickBiggs]

That’s an interesting question EastmanEggs. While chickens are natural grazers, having a large number of birds in one area most likely wouldn’t allow them to receive the proper amount of nutrition needed for proper growth and development.

When raising birds for meat, it is estimated that a bird will eat 2 pounds of feed for every pound of weight gained. So for example, if you’d collect your birds for meat at about 4 pounds, it probably means they’ve eaten about 8 pounds of feed in their lifetime – a tough task to accomplish when solely living off a specific plot of land and some treats.

If you prefer that majority of your birds’ diet come from free-ranging, I’d recommend at least supplementing with a high protein (at least 20%) feed to ensure that your birds’ nutritional needs aren’t neglected.

 

[centrarchid]

The below I posted with some editing about 4 years back. Current reality is I still do some free-range keeping with poultry tight perimeters, some where birds can go beyond pasture area but are still anchored to feeding stations and roost, and finally those anchored only to a roost that free-range much larger areas as most if not all nutrition is acquired by foraging. In addition to keeping a closed population of American Games (replacements are generated from my stock on sight), I also have a closed flock of American Dominiques. I strive for increased importance of forages for meeting nutritional needs but real limitation to that is the area required, limited distance birds will forage from roost / nesting areas, and dispersal from areas where I have effective predator management. These latters issues are often limiting before nutrition.
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We when comes to approximating feral chickens we kept games, lots. Most of our breeding was done on walks (locations where a cock and hens) were kept free range with minimal inputs other than selecting who was to be broodstock and the harvest young starting late summer - early fall. The number of walks numbered between 10 and 20 depending on year. Locations were usually centered on a barn or outbuilding of some sort although some were little more than fence rows with clumps of trees to provide roost and cover. Usually no feed was applied specifically for chickens unless it was really could and that amounted to little more than taking a a dozen ears of corn and shelling it by hand leaving kernels under a bush. Most walks at least had livestock close by, most. Usually better than 2/3' of walks yielded enough harvestable birds to be worth effort. Balance could simply have no survival of young or loss of some or all of breeders. With proven breeding groups, a given cock and hens were allowed to produce for several years before being swapped out. Some groups could operate for 5 years. More than once, walks were not checked because birds were thought lost only to find out 2 or three years later that somebody survived and bred in dunghill fashion without our oversight of birds present of breeding age. Original hens often persisted but old rooster seldom outlasted all of his male offspring. An exceptional group which I have descendants of now persisted for more than 15 years in that fashion and a couple of those years the number of birds approached 40 when flock size was maximal in fall. Predators took a heavy toll and winters with heavy snows were particularly hard on them.

Those games could do pretty much everything needed to survive for at least a couple generations but they always had at least some protection from predators by activities of humans, livestock or farm dogs.
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To put it plainly, my experience with extreme free-range keeping is significant, especially when you consider my personal efforts started back in the 1970's.

 

[centrarchid]

Walks totally free-range although actual ranging habits vary with flock size, forage quality and distribution of cover. Fence rows bordered by open field with minimal foarge promote longest ranging habits, Going quarter mile or covering 20 acres for three adults with young often realized with games. Adjacent flocks more than a couple hundred yards apart are slow to mingle with territoriality very important. Sex ratio that is not balanced can promote broader ranging by sex that is in excess. Ideal sex ratio to chickens does not favor females as much as we do.

 

[junebuggena]

It really depends on how many birds, how big the area they will be ranging on, and what food sources are available in their free range area. I live on an acre. About half of it is grassy lawn, about a quarter of it is wooded, and one side is lined with blackberry shrubs. The flock has access to an overgrown pasture next door with about 10 to 15 different grass/seed plants, and there are several types of wild berries. They have all this to free range, but I always have feed available. For 15 birds, at the peak of summer, they ate about 2 to 3 pounds of feed a day. That's just a few ounces of feed a day per bird, and most of that was consumed first thing in the morning and just before roosting.
You may not be able to eliminate feed completely, but if you have a diverse environment, with lots of different things available (not just grass) you will be able to reduce the amount of feed they go through considerably.

 

[EastmanEggs]

Photo:
Colored dots to be used to reference locations.
Pink boundary line indicates seasonal flooding/ wet land.
Laying coop is in square barn between garage and long barn.

 

[EastmanEggs]

The area from red to yellow is mowed lawn, that may be left to grow if desired.
The blue area is tall grass.
the green area is a maple tree bordered by tall grass and flooding to the northwest (pink).

I am able to mow up to the green dot if the shade tree is necessary in a mowed area.

Where is an ideal location for pen-kept forage chickens?

Also, the area beyond the yellow dot is heavily wooden- making for easy fencing using the trees as posts.

 

[junebuggena]

Try to include as much diversity as possible. Overgrown grass will provide seeds/grains, mowed grass is good for grazing, leaf litter is where all the good bugs are.
I don't think you'll be able to completely eliminate feed, but you've got enough there to drastically reduce their consumption. You might want to plant some bird friendly native berry plants. Lignonberry, Huckleberry, Loganberry, and Boysenberry are all natives of Illinois, make for good forage and cover, and there will be plenty of berries for you to use, as well.

 

[EastmanEggs]

Wow, great information! You're reassuring some of my plans.

I know of 3 coyote living in my treeline, fox and raccoon. I'm certain of at least 3 red-tail hawk, among other predatory birds overhead. Predator protection is crucial where I'm at - the .22 has reduces a lot of the nuisances, but there are always predators. Chicken wire, hardware cloth, and welded wire are all essentials where I'm at.

I would be keeping meat birds for 3-4 months and harvesting shortly after. I will be supplementing with feed, but wanted to know if it was possible to go without.

Also,
What breeds would do best for rapid growth on this diet. CornishX are super growers, but they probably aren't so hot with foraging and little feed. I've heard about Red Rangers being the best free meat birds, though they may take significantly longer. Any ideas there also?